Yearly archives: 2019

Out through the in hole
Photoshop is a dangerous weapon in the hands of the wrong person. Looking at online pump prices, we found this picture of a pump that is blowing out through the in hole. Well, we thought it was funny. Maybe these impeller pumps can work like that? Either way, let this […]

Pump it!

ET posted about Hobart fish prices a while back, see it here. Having recently returned from a trip to Brisbane, we can say Hobart fish is cheap by comparison. At the Gold Coast, coral trout was selling for $60+ a kilo and red emperor for $70+ at one outlet. Is […]

Hobart fish prices Pt 2

One of the delights of rural Tasmania in spring is the new life all around. Trees, shrubs and plants are in bloom, paddocks are bright green, and baby animals play. We had early lambs this year and thought the ewes were done. Not so, as the pix show. Such feeble, […]

Congrats in order, it’s twins!

Kiss this
An impressive 10 per cent of salmonella patients surveyed kept chickens in their bedroom, says the Centre for Disease Control (CDC). Though their survey was not done in Tasmania, local scuttlebutt suggests chickens might be scratching around in some Apple Isle homes. Anyone who has experienced the eye-stinging fragrance of […]

Evict the bedroom chickens

A beautiful firetail finch
This native beautiful firetail finch (Stagonopleura bellum) was browsing a Huon Valley (Tasmania) front lawn yesterday. They get around in ones or twos, and don’t seem to be particularly rare. They are different from the painted firetail (Emblema pictum) of the Australian mainland. Much more common in the Huon now […]

Stunner on the front lawn

A September 2002 stratospheric warming event is shown compared compared to the 2019 forecast for this September. The forecast was created by the Weather Bureau on August 30, 2019
An unusual severe stratospheric warming event over the South Pole could have big implications for Australian weather, making it windier, drier and warmer in SEQ/NSW, an area which is already suffering drought and early bushfires. Tassie can expect cold, wet weather, a relief after last year’s fire season. This story […]

Rare weather event may hit Tasmania and SEQ/NSW

Thanks for nothing Big W
Let’s be clear, we don’t have shares in Shiploads and we aren’t chocaholics. Some things just have to be reported. Shiploads Huonville is flogging Cadbury Favourites 540g packs for $8, while next door Woolworths is selling the almost-the-same-size 570g packs for $20. Meanwhile, the $10 deal for 48 x Snickers […]

Fill your prepper bunker

Spring has sprung, at least on this Huon Valley almond tree. The official start date is September 1. Spring is also the time when Tasmanian gales get serious. Looks like they already have started getting serious in Melbourne, with a jetty snapping off and floating away … story here. With […]

Spring blossom and gales

The black ram strikes again
These were born this morning, our paddock check found the young ones covered in “egg”, as my kids call it. No orphans yet, but one was stillborn. The crows are ever-present at this time, waiting for a sickly or abandoned lamb to fall. Meanwhile the older lambs play like puppies, […]

First signs of spring